English Inflectional Affixes 3b3l5y

The eight English inflectional morphemes

MORPHEME

GRAMMATICAL

FUNCTION

EXAMPLES regular: dogs, cats, horses

NOUNS

Plural

Marks as more than one

irregular: sheep, cacti, phenomena, children

Possessive

Marks for ownership

Bart’s, Homer’s, Marge’s

Comparative

Marks for comparison (usually accompanied by than).

closer, whiter, quicker

Superlative

Marks as superlative (sometimes accompanied by of).

closest, whitest, quickest

3rd-singular Present Agreement

Marks to agree with singular third person (his, her, it), in the present tense.

runs, waits, pushes

Past Tense

regular: dragged, backed, Marks (roughly) for past action. baited irregular: hit, ran, swam

ADJECTIVES

VERBS Past Participle

Present Participle

Marks past participle (follows be or have):

“regular”: chosen, proven, woken

“Bart was chosen” “I have chosen Bart).

irregular: drunk, hung; waited (same as past tense)

Marks present participle (follows be: “Bart was walking”).

walking, jumping, swinging